Oxalis purpurea

Oxalis purpurea, the grand duchess sorrel, is a stemless perennial growing from a small bulb that is often deeply embedded in the ground. Bulbs usually proliferate from vegetatively formed small bulbils around the original one, soon to grow independently.

The plant is summer deciduous, sending leaves and flowers above-ground in autumn when rain triggers the dormant bulbs into action. The leaves are divided into three dark-green, heart-shaped leaflets, not visibly hairy, but with finely fringed margins.

The flower colour is variable. They may be pink, purple, salmon, yellow and white, but always with yellow inside the funnel-shaped tube. Stamens grow at two levels. At night the flowers furl the petals and nod until morning sun inspires their re-opening. Flowering begins at the end of autumn, lasting until midspring, coincident with the rainy season of the cooler months.

O. purpurea grows from Namaqualand in the Northern Cape in a broad coastal strip through most of the Western Cape into the Eastern Cape.

The species habitat is flats and slopes, the plants often proliferating in moist places. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; iSpot; ww.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).